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Phoenix Coyotes fans may have little to cheer about if a proposed referendum makes the… more

Jim Poulin/Phoenix Business Journal

Organizers of a referendum asking voters to void a $300 million Glendale deal with the Phoenix Coyotes are expected to turn in petition signatures tomorrow, setting up a potential legal battle with the city.

Glendale is poised to disqualify the Coyotes referendum, arguing the petitions and signatures were due July 9.

Phoenix Coyotes fans may have little to cheer about if a proposed referendum makes the… more

Jim Poulin/Phoenix Business Journal

Referendum organizers Ken Jones and Joe Cobb will argue they had until July 12 at the earliest, and July 16 at the latest, to turn in the required petitions to get the Coyotes deal to voters.

Jones said he could turn in signatures as early as tomorrow.

Jones and Cobb likely need more than 1,800 valid voter signatures to get on the November ballot. They want to squash the city’s deal with prospective Coyotes buyer Greg Jamison. That deal is key to the purchase of the team and keeping it in the Phoenix market.

The fight will now move to when the referendum petitions were due.

State law gives voters 30 days after a city vote to circulate petitions and collect enough signatures to get on the ballot.

Glendale stands ready to argue the deadline was Monday, July 9, because the City Council approved the arena deal and lease with Jamison on June 8.

But the issue could be more complicated. Glendale approved the Coyotes deal by a 4-2 vote on June 8 with an emergency clause having it go immediately into effect. But the measure did not require a super majority needed for a immediate emergency approval, according to a ruling by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Dean Fink.

Fink upheld the Coyotes deal, but said the emergency clause was not valid, and that could move the approval date to June 12. Cobb previously said he thought the referendum effort had until July 12 to get on the ballot based on Fink’s ruling on the emergency clause.

Cobb also said Wednesday they plan on turning in the signatures tomorrow. He believes the measure has until at least July 12 to submit because Fink's ruling set the approval date as June 12. Cobb said they have attorneys that will represent them in an expected legal fight with the city.

Jones and attorneys from the Goldwater Institute believe they have until July 16 because they say the city did not provide them referendum packets to start their effort until June 15. Jones said he believes he has until the 16th, but hopes to get them in tomorrow.

The fate of the referendum could determine Jamison’s bid to the buy the team and keep it from moving.

Jones wouldn’t say how many signatures they have collected. State law says that local referendums need to collect valid signatures from 10 percent of voters from the previous general election. That translates into more than 1,800 signatures for Glendale this go-around. Cobb and Jones have both previously cited lower thresholds during their collection process outside Glendale libraries.